Chiangmai/Chiangrai 5D4N - Day 2

We had a great sleep in this hotel and as per every trip, I woke up extra early to doll up!

D couldn't stand the mess I made and the amount of makeup I brought along with me to this trip, so he decided to give all of you a glimpse! Haha!

Hahahah! It looks really extra I know! 😆😆😆

Anyway, kick started our day by having breakfast at the hotel!

Their breakfast spread wasn't the most impressive, but it did a decent job at keeping my tummy filled for the entire morning!

I totally did not expect this, but Chiangmai really does have a very chilly morning and I am absolutely not complaining! Such weather allowed to layer up, and my makeup to stay on longer!

Our first stop for today was the Long Neck Village.

There wasn't much to do there, to be honest, but this place was way chillier than where our hotel was.

So we pretty much just walked around, bought some handmade accessories, and take some photos at the scenic village and just took our time to be close to nature again.

In the ancient times, all the men in the village would have to travel really far to find food and basically just any resources to sustain their lives. But leaving their wives behind, meaning they were also exposing their wives to unforeseen risks. One woman got bitten by a tiger on the neck and died immediately raised an alarm to all the men in the village. They started stacking these neck rings around the ladies in the village, to protect them from being killed by wild animals.

Soon, it became a norm, and a standard of beauty.

I am the biggest claustrophobic, so, putting these rings around my neck did freak me out a little. I felt like I wasn't able to breathe. Haha!

Felt a little saddened by the facts that the kids there didn't have the chance to get any proper education, instead, they were just used as a 'prop' to attract tourists. Sigh.

Happily snapping the roosters because it was also the first day of CNY!

And it is the year of the rooster!

Fresh air, pretty blooms, chilling weather, I really liked this place although it was really quite a boring place.

Next, we went to the elephant farm, which I had to say, I wasn't the biggest fan after hearing too many people commenting how these elephants were tortured.

And it put me in absolute disdain when I saw those people riding on the head of the elephant, which was obviously hurting them!

They even used a sharp knife to sort of 'tame' the elephant.

I am strongly against the idea of visiting such elephant farm.

I wouldn't have come if it wasn't included in the tour packages.

There are so many elephant sanctuaries out there which save these abused elephants and treat them while providing a place to stay and food for them.

Go google up and enjoy a few hours of intimate session with those saved elephants!

So anyway, back to my day.

We were all seated in an auditorium to watch elephant shows!

Not gonna lie, the show was pretty impressive.

Especially the painting part.

These elephants can paint 100 times better than I do, and they were just using their trunk!

Very mind blowing!

After that, we moved on to ox cart riding.

It was pretty daunting, to be honest. Hahaha!

The oxen looked like they were going mad for a while when they kept going off the trail,

and it was even scarier when there was another ox cart coming in the opposite direction!

Haha!

But it was quite a different experience for me!

We, unfortunately, had to do the elephant riding. I do not recommend it, that's why I am not putting any photos of it.

After that, we had a really SIMPLE lunch buffet and went on with bamboo rafting!

They were a little greedy to fit a huge amount of passengers on the raft, so ours got stuck soooooo many times! Haha!

But overall, it was quite a nice experience.

But, please bring an umbrella cause it was quite tormenting to be rafting under the scorching sun in the afternoon where the sun shone directly above our head.

Anyway, after all the wildlife adventures (LOL), we hopped into the bus, and headed to 'touristy' places. *if you know what I mean*

So we were first taken to Orchid Farm!
Which, I like!
Because I just love the exotic look of Orchid, and how they could come in such interesting colour combinations!

After those touring, we were taken to see some jewelry too!

And we didn't quite like the idea of jewelry factory visiting because it was just plain boring,

and they were just trying to get us buy those overpriced jewelry. Haha!

This was taken before dinner at a Chinese restaurant, which again, I wouldn't recommend, hence the lack of photos.

I felt a little dejected at this point because after spending more than 24 hours at this Tom Yam land, I haven't got the chance to try any yet!

So, we hurry up with the food, and headed to the Night Safari!

I am afraid of animals all my life, because well, we don't understand what they say, and they are just fierce and scary basically. Hahahhah!

But this activity turned out to be my favourite throughout the entire trip!

Let me warn you though, it can get quite chilly at night, so take a light weight jacket with you!

Animal shows were so bomb!

Look at these cheeky animals!

Also, managed to catch tiger swimming in the water! Impressive!

The tour ended with a night safari adventure into the woods and oh gosh, it was both thrilling and calming at the same time!

I didn't know how much I love watching animals until I was there.

I was so mesmerised by the animals, especially when they came really close to our tram.

I wish I had the courage to feed them though!

Only managed to snap one cause I spent 80% of the time freaking out. HAHAHAHHA!

Headed back to the hotel for a good night of rest and that's how our day 2 in Chiangmai ended!

Honestly, I've never expected this Chiangmai trip to be so much fun!

For those who haven't been there, I highly recommend squeezin one in your wishlist!